Since July 1, 2021, the NCAA has allowed colligate athletes the ground breaking opportunity to profit financially from their personal brands. The country’s college sports world has been forever shifted by the enabling student athletes to earn monetary gains from their name, image, and likeness or NIL for short.

Since then, there has been a shift in the way coaches, athletic directors, universities, and fans have viewed student-athletes, especially the mantra proposing they are no longer ‘students’ but rather professionals in their own right. Because of this, the idea that athletes woe or act conscientiously toward academics has gone from a subtle talking point to an irrelevant sector.

However, for two Arizona State football players, academics have been at the forefront of their collegiate careers.

Insert sophomores cornerback Keith Abney II and running back Kyson Brown, two significant pieces in ASU’s 2024 Big 12 Championship triumph and College Football Playoff appearance. The pair are both enrolled in the university's premier advanced degree program ‘Barrett The Honors College’ pursuing education beyond the bare minimum whilst competing at the highest levels of college football.

In 1988, the Arizona Board of Regents authorized the creation of the United States’ first four-year, undergraduate, residential honors college. Since then, the program has been a cornerstone of the school, growing academic prestige.

For Abney and Brown, the choice to enroll in Barrett the Honors College was rooted in family values. Despite being recruited to play football at the highest levels, taking care of business in the classroom was atop the priority list as well, as in Abney’s case, he doesn’t right with not giving his all.

“I just wanna be the best at everything I do,” Abney said. “It just doesn't even sit right with me not succeeding in school. Not everybody is going to get all A’s or something like that, but just to know that you gave the effort to each assignment. Submit your work on time just little things like that, it shows give me an effort in the classroom, I feel like it just helps you succeed.

“Then we got our coaches and stuff. We have our whole academic center here. You could get tutoring, and you got academic advisors, you got people that are willing to help you, so you got all the resources being an athlete; I feel like there's no reason you should be struggling. I feel like we have the resources we need to succeed in the classroom here at ASU.”

For Brown, enrolling in Barrett's Honors College felt like a ‘Why not?’ decision. As he continues to pursue a degree in Architectural Studies, the program stood out on his radar when he visited football programs.

“I think for me and my family on my visits when we heard about it, it was just something that me and my parents talked about it, like ‘Might as well take advantage of it,’” Brown said. “It's something that they offer, and it might be a challenge, but when it's also done at the end of the day, it's gonna benefit you. It was definitely something that we knew that I was gonna do, like, just when I first heard they offered it.”

Sun Devil nation is draped in different banners and boards showcasing awards and accolades won by students and programs at ASU, including the university's first-place finish as the No.1 school for Innovation in the country, an award won by the school seven years running, As Brown continues his educational journey, he’s realized the possibilities he can dream to reach while being an honors college student, using the opportunity to take his creative ideas to life. A dream he wants to achieve in multiple facets.

“I would work probably in any field, maybe fashion, maybe building, maybe construction, or stuff like that,” Brown said. “I also probably know for a fact that I’ll work with people. I'm pretty big on relationships, so I'm a people person. I like to talk to people and interact with people, I'd definitely be working in the field where I go out and meet people and talk to people and do stuff like that.”

Abney is certainly a big dream person. As a Sports Business major, he sees his career taking off with him at the forefront beyond football. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners, it's in his DNA to be at the helm of all his endeavors.

“It would be my last name, the company would be Abney Incorporator or something like that, That's like an example,” he rattled off. “Then I’d just have a lot of businesses under that, like Abney cars, Abney houses, stuff like that, and just a lot of different things. But even with football, I would still do that; I could start that.

“My mom, she worked for herself, my dad, he worked with himself, my granny worked for herself. So, it was just like, ‘They do it, I can do it. They set the blueprint; I could do that too.’ I feel like there’s nothing stopping me from having multiple businesses.”

That foundation set by his family from a young age in the greater Dallas Metro area inspired Abney to work hard in all aspects of his career, despite being a talented football player with a bright future in the sport that didn’t halt his family from keeping him in check when needed.

“It's always been ‘if you don’t pass, you don’t play,’” Abney said. “Even little league growing up, your parents will tell your coach, ‘he’s acting up in school, or he got a bad grade or something, he’s not gonna play that week.’ So, it was always been there, so it’s always handle your business in the classrooms so you could have your fun on the field, so it’s always been school first.”

Well for both players those same standards still apply, despite playing Power-conference football and competing in the New Year the duo has dealt with handling their time and energy in school as well. Heading into their junior year classes will continue to get more rigorous as will their requirements in between the lines, Abney was already a stamped starter as a true sophomore playing upwards of 80 or 90 snaps a game while defending future NFL wide receivers.

Despite the added workload, however, after two years of dealing with its difficulties, both Abney and Brown feel more than equipped to handle any academic hurdles in their way.

“At the beginning of the year we email our teachers so they know that we play football they do a good job being understanding what our schedules are,” Abney said “We have a busy schedule, so they kind of work with us. They adapt a schedule for us almost, it's easier for us to do stuff, on certain days.”

“Also too knowing what you have to do, and time of management were able to get more work with our academic coaches,” Brown added. “They're able to help a little more and figure out things and time slots so we can accomplish it. It's just time management and knowing what you have to do, staying ahead of it, and not getting behind on it.”

These two aren’t the only Sun Devil student-athletes taking pride in their education; Abeny is one of 38 ASU athletes named to the 2024 Fall Academic All-Big-12 Team. The list includes 13 football players, as the program, despite its elation on the field in 2024, takes pride in giving young men academic opportunities by setting standards and expectations.

“I've seen a culture change just as far as since freshman year even the recruit trips they push academics, they make it a bigger deal than I heard in the past,” Brown said. “I just know that they push a lot of the athletes to join the Barrett Honors and do more academically, so I definitely witnessed the change.”

Academics have clearly been a staple of ASU football's program, but in many ways, the commitment to the program has also been helpful on the field. As Brown continues to explore his creativity in Architectural studies, his creativity on the football field has also been enhanced through that outlet.

“We have a class where you discuss and talk about books and stuff like that, so I think I've used some of that experience on the sidelines whenever we come off for a play,” Brown noted. “We need to use the tablets and get to look at what we see, and you just comment to express how you feel about certain different things, and I think that class specifically has allowed me to be freer and open up about what I see and what I feel. It kind of kind of shows how school and football are mentioned.

Playing at the college level has come with years and countless hours of dedication to the craft. Brown knows that at some point, his life won’t revolve around playing in between the lines. However, he plans to use his education and experience to change lives through the lens of football as a mentor and subject expert.

“I just love football so much, and that's been a part of my life since I was small,” Brown said. “I haven't been away from it. So that’s second nature for me, so if I wasn't working in football, I'd be doing something like that, but it would be hard to keep me away from football, for sure.

“I know at some point I will have to leave the game itself, but I know for sure I’ll be somewhere helping somebody. I don't know if I’ll coach, but I'd probably train or something like that, but give back to some high schoolers or something or whatever it is. But I’ll definitely still be somewhere connected with football.”

Collegiate athletes have been viewed through an altered perspective for nearly four years since the iteration of NIL, with the influence of money impacting every single program in the nation. For ASU and its football players, however, the student portion of ‘student-athlete’ has not been forgotten and neither has the individual underneath the helmet as well.

“I want people to know that we actually have to do our work,” Abney noted. “Teachers don’t just say, ‘Okay, they play football, we’re just gonna give them an A.’ They really look at us like regular students … you really gotta manage your time, knowing I got practice in the morning. I'm gonna go home, gonna do this work for about an hour, then go back up to the facility, watch film, and I'm gonna come back home and study for 30 minutes or something. I just want people to know that we student-athletes, a lot of us really care about schoolwork and getting our degree.”

“We’re people outside of football,” Brown added. “We had have lifestyles outside of football and we actually have a personality outside of football. So, I think that's the biggest thing people don’t realize is that we're actually humans outside of our jerseys. A lot of people get caught up in seeing what we do on a field and how good we perform; how bad we perform … A lot of athletes surprise you about what we can do people have crazy talents that you might not think they do.”

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